Science Research Roundup: September 2017

This month, Arts & Sciences faculty have been awarded grants from institutions including the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Gary Patti, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry, was awarded an eight-year, $5.85 million grant from the National Institutes of Health in support of metabolomics research.

Keith Hengen, assistant professor in the Department of Biology, was awarded $747,000 from the National Institutes of Health for a research project titled "Homeostatic plasticity mechanisms support brain function in vivo."

Christine Floss, research professor in the Department of Physics, was awarded $648,000 from NASA in support of a project titled "Microanalytical characterization of presolar silicate grains: Constraints on grain formation in stellar environments and grain survival in the early solar nebula."

Todd Braver, professor of psychological & brain sciences, received $419,000 from the National Institute on Aging toward research on the interactions of motivation and cognitive control in older adult decision-making.

Michael L. Gross, professor of chemistry, has been named recipient of the 2018 American Chemical Society Award in Analytical Chemistry, sponsored by the Battelle Memorial Institute.

Adam Culbreth, a graduate student in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, received an $88,000 research fellowship award from the National Institute of Mental Health toward a project titled "Cognitive effort avoidance in psychotic disorders."

Dian Tan, a postdoctoral researcher working with Kater Murch, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics, received fellowship funding from Rigetti Computing totaling $84,000 in support of a project titled "Mapping quantum states into and from noisy transmission lines with superconducting qubits."

Marilyn Piccirillo, University Fellow in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, was awarded $77,000 from the National Institute of Mental Health in support of research on longitudinal risk factors for depression and development of individual risk models.

Corey Westfall, a postdoctoral researcher working with Petra Levin, professor of biology, received $68,000 from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation in support of a project titled "Living large: Connecting nutrients, metabolism, and cell size."

Cory Knoot, a postdoctoral researcher working with Himadri Pakrasi, Myron and Sonya Glassberg/Albert and Blanche Greensfelder Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Biology, received $66,000 from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation toward a project titled "Blue-green engineering: A sustainable biosynthetic production system for cyanobacterial natural products."

Brendan Haas, a graduate student in the Department of Physics, received a $45,000 graduate student fellowship from NASA toward a research project titled "Characterizing Comet 81P/Wild 2 with Acfer 094 and Tagish Lake analog foils."

Kelsey Prissel, a doctoral student working with Mike Krawczynski, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences, received a $45,000 graduate fellowship from NASA toward a project titled "Experimental investigation of lunar iron isotope fractionation and implications."

Richard Powis, a graduate student studying sociocultural anthropology, received a $34,000 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Award in support of his anthropological work abroad.

Jordan Brock, a doctoral student working with Kenneth Olsen, professor of biology, was awarded $6,300 from the National Geographic Society toward a research project titled "History of domestication of the emerging biofuel crop C. sativa."

Arpita Bose, assistant professor of biology, was one of 10 women scientists at universities across the United States to receive a $2,500 grant from L’Oreal and the American Association for the Advancement of Science for projects focused on engaging girls and women in science.

About the Author

Crystal Gammon is a science writer in Arts & Sciences. With a background in Earth science and science journalism, she works on a variety of technical and non-technical communications projects. She is an alumna of the College of Arts & Sciences.